


Tony has Quirks

by my_unlikely_hero



Series: Avengers Drabbles [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Drugging, F/M, Howard's A+ Parenting, M/M, Tony Whump, but it'll be fine, im a trash writer, im so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 04:30:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7085728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_unlikely_hero/pseuds/my_unlikely_hero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony has a few quirks. Here's why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tony has Quirks

**Author's Note:**

> Noncon/ rape and drugging lie ahead. Read at own risk.

Tony thought it was cool, the first time Howard had lead him upstairs to the meeting room. Maria was at some gala and Jarvis had driven her, so 12 year old Tony had been bored upstairs in his room. 

Howard and Obadiah had invited several businessmen for drinks, to swindle them into investing in Stark Industries. Tony was supposed to stay quietly in his room and not cause any trouble that could ruin this for his father. 

He was surprised when Howard had shown up at his door, and brought him to the meeting room. Tony wasn't usually allowed in here and he marveled at the leather furniture, and dark wood fixtures. The investors sat about the room, drinks in hand and a bottle of expensive scotch on the table beside them. Obadiah poured another glass. Tony didn't see the little powder dissolve at the bottom. 

“Here, boy.” Howard shoves an amber filled glass into the boys hand. “I think you're old enough to be of some use now,” Howard says.

Tony preens under the praise. This is the first time Howard has said a word to him in a week, and the first kind word he's said in several more weeks. The drink burns when he sips it and he wants to put it down, but he knows better. 

“Finish the glass,” his father encourages him. The other men stare on in amusement. Tony doesn't want to, the drink tastes awful, but he knows better than to disappoint Howard. Obadiah chuckles and nods his agreement. 

The drink burns it's way down Tony's throat, warming his chest and stomach. The temperature in the room rises to a stifling heat. Howard takes the glass as Tony begins to away on his feet. 

Obadiah's hand guides him to a chair before his limbs fail- which they do. It's a relief to sit down, because his head is spinning and foggy. He slapped feebly at the hands on his clothes, but someone holds him still. Nothing after that really matters because Stark men were made of iron. 

 

 

Tony was sensitive. More than people knew. More than Tony let on, too. Hell, he had nightmares about falling after one little wormhole incident. He hated the heat after Afghanistan- he had gone so far as to air condition the IronMan suits so he didn't get triggered into a cave reenactment. 

He had been nightmare prone for decades- too many dreams of hands tearing at him are how his insomnia had started. Dreaming about pressing painful things into his hands gave him a quirk; everyone thought he was a bit of a germaphobe, because he wouldn't take anything handed to him. 

Pepper thought he was a hoarder because of all the boxes left in storage. The truth was, Tony didn't want to step into what used to be one of Howard's offices. The leather couch was familiar to him, an original. It had to be an antique now. 

But it was bound to happen eventually. Pepper put her foot down about needing space for a renovation, and the storage had to be cleaned out. It was all Howard's old projects, so only Tony could do it, lest random plans fall into untrustworthy hands. 

Steve volunteered to help. He brought Sam and Natasha, who brought Clint. Who, in turn, tricked Thor going, under the guise of a drinking game. Bruce came to help, purely out of curiosity- if nothing else, Howard was a very smart and very private man. It was likely that there were useful plans to be discovered in storage. Bucky had been guilted into helping by his boyfriend. Tony had a powerful puppy face. Vision and Wanda were the only ones lucky enough to escape the chore

“Tony, you can't just throw everything away,” Steve glared at the smaller brunette. Trash cans lined the hallway and room, ready to be filled and burned. 

“Yes, actually, I think I can. Because this is all technically mine now. I mean, if you want anything, take it. I get that you were all buddy-buddy, cop show with the guy. But I don't need- or want- any of this crap.” 

Tony hauls a trash can to the file cabinet in the corner, as far from Steve as he can get. His feelings smart. Howard was a real piece of work by the time Tony came along, and he was a little jealous that it was Steve who had gotten to experience his father's good side. And yeah, ok, maybe he didn't like hearing Captain America, Tony's childhood idol, sing the man praises. 

So he set about more useful things than pouting and wallowing in self-pity. Tony began think of new plans for the new StarkPad upgrades as he threw papers away. He didn't look at them, just throwing things away. Soon Bruce joined him in the corner with some sort of diagram on paper. Something crazy of his fathers, of course. 

Steve looked about the room. Most of it was just papers to be thrown away and destroyed later, but he found a box on the shelves beside the door. It didn't look like Howard's, it was filled with old picture frames of blondes- Steve looked on the back of one. Janice, it read. 

There were more, of different women. Wedding pictures. Not Howards, then. As far as he knew, Howard had been with Maria for years.

Nothing was in Howard's handwriting. The name Stane caught his eye. He almost threw the box away until he spotted an old video tape. TONY was written on top, in the same handwriting. He kept it. 

Even though Obadiah Stane had tried to kill Tony several years before, they had used to be close. Stane had watched Tony grew up- was like an uncle to young Tony, from what the Internet had shown him. He hoped it was a home video. Baby Tony's first words, or his first steps; maybe his graduation. 

They called it quits before dinner. Steve hadn't found anything else worth salvaging, besides the tape. He thought about it as Tony took his takeout down to the workshop. 

Bruce was talking about how brilliant and futuristic some of Howard's plans had been in the day. 

“I found a video tape,” he taunts Bucky with. He knew how much Tony's mysterious past bothered Bucky. Any time any of them asked anything, they got a vague answer if any. Even when they all drank and sat in a circle to play the shitty parent competition (Clint had won) Tony stayed silent. He had laughed it all off. 

Everyone whips around at Steves words. “Put it in!” Clint cries. Natasha smirks in silent agreement beside him. Steve could see their fingers laced together under the table. 

“I'll go get Tony,” Steve offers, turning. “It'll be fun.”

Bucky yanks it from his hand. “You know he'd never let us watch it.” He walks to the VCR to put it in. 

“Maybe we should respect his wishes, guys.” Bruce says from the back. Nobody listens, of course. 

“Naw. It'll be cute, man. Little Tony blowing things up.” Sam dismisses. 

“And blackmail material,” Clint grins.

“Yes!” Thor booms. “Let us watch our young warrior friend!” 

The video comes to life, framing a library. It looked like a meeting was being held. Several men gathered around a heavy wooden table with blush leather seats. Like the one from the storage room earlier. 

Tony entered the frame, his face and torso in the shot. He couldn't be a day over fourteen but Howard pressed a full glass of scotch to him. The Avengers stared on in shock. It was the only time any of them could remember seeing Tony Stark taking anything handed to him. 

They can see young Tony's hand shake as he hesitates. ‘Take it, Tony,’ Howard's voice says through the tape. They all watch the boy drain the glass in one long gulp. Steve raises his eyebrows. 

“That explains a lot,” Natasha whispers. Whatever was in the drink works quickly. Tony practically melts into a chair. 

They watch, transfixed. The elivator opens behind them and Tony walks in. The on-screen Tony is squeezing his eyes closed as the men finish their drinks with idle chatter. Someone is rubbing a hand across his chest. 

“Whatever it is FRIDAY is going on about, knock it off. It's confusing her, and that's just- what the- shit!” 

On-screen Tony is being praised and stripped. Natasha openly watches, her face blank. 

Real Tony yells a loud string of obscenities and rushes to eject the tape. The room is tense and silent. 

“We didn't know,” Natasha says, the same time Steve asks “what was that?”

“Who's idea was this?” Tony yells, furious. His fists are clenched down at his sides, and his handsome face is contorted into a snarl. “Who the fuck thought it was okay to put in tapes with my name on them?” 

Tony throws the tape across the room. It shatters against the wall. 

“It was me.” Steve voices. “I found it in a box, I thought it was baby videos.” 

“And that makes it okay?” Steve ignored him. 

“That was Howard in that video. Did he drug you?”

“That isn't any of your business! You had no right to- to-” Tony stutters. He runs a hand through his messy hair, a tell of stress. “to do that. It doesn't matter!”

“Of course it matters, Tony. We're a team.”

“No, I'm your consultant and your nanny. And all of you are going to never breath a word of this. You don't know what you saw.” 

“Tony, that's not how this works.” Sam says. He's a therapist. He should know. 

“Fuck right off, Willson. That's how it works if I say it is.”

“This isn't just about you, Stark. You could become a liability in the field-” Steve tries using his captain voice. 

“They're all dead so it doesn't matter. See? All better.” 

“Tony-” Bucky reaches for him but the genius backs away. 

“Fuck this.” And he leaves. Because his heart is racing and he can't breath and it probably wouldn't be wise to punch Captain America in the face. “Fuck all of you.” 

Especially Bucky, for sitting through the entire exchange without saying a word. Who had watched that fucking video, when he knew Tony didn't like people prying into his past. There were reasons for that. 

“FUCK!” Tony screams into an empty room. The shop echoes it back, creating a whole lot of noise to drown out the screaming in his head. “GOD DAMNIT! Stupid fucking Obadiah! SHIT! What the fuck? FRIDAY! What the hell was that shit show? Why didn't you stop them? Why didn't you tell me that they put in a god damned tape of me getting FUCKING GANG BANGED? By old pervy white fucks!” Tony's yelling as loud as he can. FRIDAY let him, not announcing his boyfriends arrival. 

“Tony.” He says softly. It's enough to get the genius’ attention. 

“What? Fuck, what? Are you going to break up with me? Because, you know, that would be really in par with the rest of the day. I sort of expected it, actually. But hey, at least it's not some sappy cliche where we cry and fix each other right?” Tony rambles, looking anywhere except at Bucky. “Well, message received. You can go now, before you catch something or whatever.”

“I'm not leaving.” He says when Tony stops for air. 

“Well I hope your dastardly plans aren't to dispose of the trash, because I have actual super armor, now. Remember that. I-” 

“Tony, shut up. I'm not leaving, and I am not going to kill you. I'm not breaking up with you. I'm apologizing.”

Tony gawks. “I shouldn't have watched the tape. Or the others, either. We shouldn't’a put it in. I was just so curious about you- you never talk about your piece of shit father, or your horrible childhood except vague little clues, and I just- I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me.” 

“Maybe later,” Tony pouts. “I'm still kinda pissed.” For a moment it's silent. Bucky is gather courage to speak again. 

“They- … Hydra did that. To me.” His voice is a whisper Tony has to strain to hear. “When they were trying to break me. At Italy, when I was first captured. I didn't wanna tell Steve- I still haven't. And then after I fell, I kept trying to fight them, but they wanted to break me. I guess it worked. After that, they just wanted to. Because they could.” 

Tony wants to hug him, but he's still mad. Still raw. He sighs heavily. He needs to be drunk for this. He goes to the cabinet and grabs a bottle of Russian vodka, curtesy of Natasha. He took several long pulls before passing the bottle to Bucky. 

“Shit, Metallica. Now I have to share. It's only fair, right?” Tony shrugs even though everything else is stiff. 

“It was just a few times, I barely even remember. And it was a long time ago. Sometimes the investors just needed a little buttering up before they opened their wallets. Probably used to video as blackmail. Shit, I didn't even know there was a video.”

Tony drinks from the bottle again. 

“It's not that's bad. It wasn't that bad. Howard handed me a glass and told me I was finally old enough to ‘be of some use’. And I just-” 

Tony pauses to snatch the bottle from Bucky and drink again. He wants to be too drunk to remember this conversation.

“I just let him. I knew it was drugged, after that first time, but I just took it.You fought, you didn't just let them do it. Right? It's pathetic. I'm- fuck.” He wipes at his cheeks, angry. “This is pathetic. I told you I didn't want any cliche shit.”

“It's okay, Tony. You were a teenager, it wasn't your fault.” 

“Did you not hear me? We just went over this,” Tony snaps. “I knew the scotch was drugged and I drank it anyway. Like the alcoholic I am. I deserved what I got.”

“How old were you? The first time.” Bucky wonders. 

“Old enough to know better,” Tony scoffs. Bucky scowls at him. 

“How old?”

“Twelve.”

“You were a kid, Tony. A real smart kid, eager to please your father. And he took advantage of that. They all did. You didn't deserve that. Nobody does. It wasn't your fault, Tony.”

“I just wanted to help.” Tony's voice quakes. He wraps his arms around himself, defeated. Apparently they were having this conversation. 

“Howard would let me in the lab after. He'd let me work on things. He- he told me I was being good. He paid attention to me. At first. Then it was just another chore to be done. He expected it, after the first few times.” More tears leaked down his cheeks as his face crumpled. “When I got older, he'd get drunk and mad. Tell me I was d-disgusting. That I was weak and pathetic. But a few weeks later he'd use me to ‘help seal the deal’ again.” Tony sobs. He doesn't flinch when Bucky pulls him into a hug. The bottle falls from Tony's hand and shatters. 

“I'm never letting that happen again. You're safe, Tony. As long as I'm around, you'll never go through that again.”

Tony nods and Bucky holds him. Eventually they stumble upstairs to finish dinner, and Tony lets Bucky shoo the other Avengers from the floor. The engineer is still mad at them, save for Bruce who had protested. 

They shower together and Tony let his boyfriend coaxe him to bed. Tony, at Sam’s recommendation, hires a therapist the week after everything blows over. 

Natasha, surprisingly, was the first to apologize. She corners him in the kitchen with some sort of Russian desert. “We overstepped a line. My apologies.” And the dessert is delicious, too. 

Clint is next. This is probably due to Natasha threatening bodily harm, because he wasn't sure Clint knew how to apologize. Guilt, yes, but apologies were rare. Apparently Tony wasn't the only one with daddy issues. 

Bruce bribes him with science and food. Sam gives him recommended therapists and lets him work on the wings. Steve brings up a red frosted cake with ‘sorry’ frosted in yellow. His face is so pitiful Tony can't help but accept. That, and it's his boyfriend's best friend. 

They wind up burning all of the paperwork, the remaining pieces of the tape, and the disgusting leather chair. They do it together, like a bonfire. Bucky holds Tony close and they make a party out of it. Natasha burns a box of personal items as does Clint. Nobody knows what's in them, but the point is to let go of past demons.


End file.
